{"id":96037,"date":"2023-11-29T17:10:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T16:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aprifel-pp.mentalworks.biz\/?post_type=article_revue&p=96037"},"modified":"2023-11-29T17:10:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T16:10:41","slug":"what-others-eat-can-make-us-choose-a-healthier-snack-but-not-what-others-think-we-souldh-eat-or-what-others-like-to-eat","status":"publish","type":"article_revue","link":"https:\/\/aprifel-pp.mentalworks.biz\/en\/global-fv-newsletter-article\/what-others-eat-can-make-us-choose-a-healthier-snack-but-not-what-others-think-we-souldh-eat-or-what-others-like-to-eat\/","title":{"rendered":"What others eat can make us choose a healthier snack – but not what others think we souldh eat or what others like to eat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We generally conform (or desire to do so) to the acceptable social rules that we perceive around us. This social influence has been used numerous times in interventions to encourage people towards healthier food choices, by exposing people to different types of statements about others\u2019 eating habits. What other people eat, what they think we should eat and what they like to eat are among the most common statements used to encourage people to eat healthy foods, yet the effectiveness of these different statements has never been explored in one study. This is the focus of this article, which found that what other people eat is the most efficient influence towards eating healthy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social norms<\/strong> are defined as the perceived informal<\/strong>, mostly unwritten, rules that define acceptable<\/strong> and appropriate actions<\/strong> within a given group (UNICEF, 2021<\/a>). Since not following <\/strong>these acceptable rules could possibly outcast <\/strong>us from a social group<\/strong>, we tend to want to conform <\/strong>to them (Jacobson et al., 2011<\/a>). This is why social norms, when made explicit, can be a powerful encouragement <\/strong>to abide to the specific behavior<\/strong>. For example, just mentioning that most people eat healthily can be a motivation to choose healthier foods, since it\u2019s a reminder of the appropriate social norm (Higgs et al. 2019<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent article (Mollen et al., 2023<\/strong><\/a>) explores the influence <\/strong>of different food social norms<\/strong> on eating behavior<\/strong>. Participants in the study were told that a Dutch nutrition organization wanted to improve the presentation of the information on their website, which included one social norm about fruit and vegetable consumption. They were then asked to fill out an online food diary that the organization wanted to add to their website, including which three snacks they planned to eat the following day and their intention to eat healthy snacks the upcoming week. Using this clever design, where they varied the type of social norm<\/strong> that participants were exposed to<\/strong>, they investigated whether being exposed to what others eat<\/strong>, what others think we should eat<\/strong>, and what others like to eat influences<\/strong> food behavior <\/strong>and attitudes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exposure to other’s fruit and vegetable consumption results in healthier food choices but not intentions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although all participants read an extract of the website including the attractive qualities of fruits and vegetables (e.g. colorful, unique flavor, low calorie), some participants\u2019 extract included a social norm <\/strong>about others\u2019 actual fruit and vegetable consumption<\/strong> (called descriptive norms; Cialdini et al., 1990<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n